2) Nutritional Yeast Flakes (cheesy and light, surprisingly tasty!)
Nutritional yeast is NOT traditional yeast...even safe for those with Candida! I read about this tasty topper in Kimberly Snyder's Beauty Detox book. She incorporates this ingredient in a lot of her recipes! Although it is a bit on the pricy side, around $9.00 a bag, it lasts a long time as you only use a little bit each time!
I apologize there is no picture for this - the reason is because we ate it too fast! It was SOOO good, and I didn't want to waste a bite by stopping to snap some photos!
I have brought this dip to a few holiday parties and everyone seems to love it! It is a healthier alternative to traditional hummus made from chickpeas. Plus, I have not had much luck with the whole soaking, boiling, cooking chickpeas. Those suckers do NOT want to get soft!
Recipe:
1 1/2 cups zucchini (peeled and sliced)
1/2 c. raw tahini paste (or 1/4 c. raw tahini sauce)
juice from 1 lemon (organic)
2 tsp. chopped fresh parsley (or dried parsley flakes work too)
3-4 garlic cloves
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. paprika
pinch cayenne pepper
1 tsp. sea salt
Place ingredients in blender (Vitamix preferred or other high speed blender) and blend on high for 15 seconds. pour into bowl, cover and chill for 2 hours. Top with paprika, parsley flakes and pine nuts and a bit of olive oil.
Note: Raw tahini paste is best to use in this recipe, but I had a hard time finding it (they don't have it at Sprouts or Trader Joe's. I use 1/4 c. tahini sauce.) I tried adding xantham gum to one batch to increase thickness, and the result was a gummy bouncy texture that I did not like at all! So try to find the tahini paste at Mother's market or your local health food store!
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Here is a recipe for a super healthy and tasty lasagna! I adapted it from the Eat Right for Your Type book. It originally was a recipe for Spinach Pesto Lasagna, which you could use, but without getting too personal, ok... too much pesto gives me gas. Type A's typically are not supposed to have tomatos/tomato sauce, but, once in a while isn't going to kill me.
I used Rice Lasagna noodles (no gluten) and cooked them first. They got all soggy and fell apart. Layer sauce, noodles, mixture of Ricotta and extra firm tofu, spinach, and then repeat. Bake for 45 minutes on 375 or until brown around edges and slightly browned on the top. Enjoy!
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My mother always told me, Life is Short, Eat Dessert First! My mother is a wise woman, perhaps even more wise than she even knows! Traditional notions of common sense tell us we are being "bad" if we eat dessert before dinner. In fact, we often are told not to "spoil our dinner" by eating dessert before hand.
I don't mean to rock the boat for those of you conservative foodies out there; but it turns out, the opposite may be true! In fact, if we elect to consume a fruity dessert post supper, we may have spoiled our dinner, literally, as our tasty dessert sits rotting on top our just eaten dinner like a inner-being compost.
The Beauty Detox Solution, by Kimberly Snyder, states that fruits should not be consumed post-meal. Why? Because fruit is digested and processed through our bodies at such a rapid pace - most fruit enters and leaves our bodies within 20-30 minutes! So when you think you are being healthy by opting for a fruit dessert instead of that cheesecake, you make want to think again.
Turns out, fruit, is digested nearly effortlessly by our amazing bodies if we consume it on an empty stomach. Our bodies are able to digest and absorb the minerals and vitamins from raw fruit the best this way. If, on the other hand, we have just consumed a meal full of starches, proteins and/or fats, that food will accumulate in our stomachs while our bodies begin to digest and break down the food to send it through our intestines. This can take hours, depending on the food we just consumed.
Therefore, if we consume fruit AFTER dinner, or a meal, the fruit cannot bypass the other food that is still trying to be digested by our bodies and will ferment and basically ROT in our bellies, prohibiting us from obtaining the benefits of the fruits at all. This is referred to by Kimberly, in her book The Beauty Detox Solution, as "sludge."
This sludge prevents our bodies from effectively digesting food - and the energy that is used to digest our food cannot then be energy that our bodies can use for other purposes. In my interpretation of her book, the main premise is that more energy = more beauty. In order to obtain maximum outwardly beauty, we need to consume not only the correct foods, we need to also pair the correct foods together and consume them in the right order (light foods such as fruits, should be consumed on their own (on an empty stomach or at least 20 minutes before you consume a meal or other food(s), then greens and non-starchy vegetables, then finally starches or proteins last) so as not to jam up our stomachs and digestive tracts with a big fermented rotten mess!
Makes perfect sense to me!
Shown above is a DELICIOUS creamy, frozen and smooth fruit sorbet I made with our Vita last night. We ate it after dinner. Oops... I guess I read the portion about fruit rotting in our stomachs a day late. Oh well, life is about living, eating and learning right? Next time I make this sorbet I will eat it 20 minutes before dinner!
How to make the fruit Sorbet-
Blend together any variation of frozen fruit you feel like, I used:
Frozen blueberries
Frozen pineapple (I cut fresh pineapple and freeze it which makes for great addition to smoothies plus pineapple is good for digestion and supports weight loss in Type A bloods)
Frozen cranberries
1 cup soy/almond/hempt milk
Blend on high until 4 little mounds form in the Vita. Scoop and serve!
Note: You can try adding 2-3 ice cubes if you want the sorbet to be a bit "icier." Enjoy - but remember to eat dessert first...fruity desserts, that is :)
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On overcast wintery days, nothing quite warms your soul like a steamy bowl of vegetarian black bean chili over macaroni and cheese (made with vegan butter and soy milk). Sometimes you just need good ol comfort foods. After settling in and enjoying with our warm bowls of chili and cheesy goodness, I decided I would end the evening with a batch of warm homemade vegan gluten free carob chip cookies.
After cleaning up the dishes from dinner, I began to prepare the cookie batter and turned to pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. It was then that I realized the oven was already on!
I opened the oven door and to my surprise, I realized I had forgot the baked potato(s) which I had initially set out to make for Bryan before I had changed course and opted for the macaroni and cheese/chili combination. Ooops! Those little wrinkly spuds had been baking away at 350 degrees for close to 2 1/2 hours. I'm not even going to say what I thought of when I saw these little guys, you can decide for yourselves:
This cake is from a few weeks ago, and since I have been so behind in posting this month due to a variety of personal reasons, and not feeling so great, I am happy to finally be catching up and sharing this delicious recipe! This cake is made especially delightful because of the moist-ness and density of the cake, and the rich flavor of the frosting!
Brownie Cake
2 c. coconut flour
1 1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 c. raw agave nectar
1 tbsp baking soda
1 tsp. sea salt
12 oz. butter (This is the only ingredient in the cake that I wish I could change, and am going to try out variations of using other substitutions soon)
2 cups Organic Almond Milk
1 tsp Pure Bourbon Vanilla Extract
8 oz. apple sauce
Salted Caramel Rum Frosting
Ingredients for Salted Caramel Sauce:
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons whipping cream
1 tbsp. butter (I used a vegan butter substitute with no trans fats)
1 tsp. sea salt
2 tablespoons dark rum
Ingredients for Frosting base:
1 package cream cheese, room temp
1/3 cup butter, room temp (again, I used vegan butter substitute)
4 cups confectioner’s sugar
How to:
First you want to make the Salted Caramel Sauce - Heat brown sugar, cream, butter, and salt over medium heat whisking until sugar is dissolved (not long, about 1 1/2 minutes). Pour in rum and stir to combine. Remove and cool.
Frosting Base: In a separate bowl or mixer, beat cream cheese and butter until whipped/soft. Add confectioner’s sugar and beat to combine. (Good luck not getting confectioner's sugar all over yourself and the counters! God speed). Pour in 3 tablespoons of the salted caramel rum sauce that you left cooling, and beat to combine. Use the remainder of the salted caramel rum sauce to swirl on top of your cake/cupcakes!
Below is a photo of an attempt to salvage my first batch of Salted Rum that for some reason I made WAY too thick. Since it became sort of a batter-type texture, I thought I would try to bake it.
Not a good idea. Although this mini cake may appear to the naked eye to be a tasty concoction, in reality, it tasted like, well...crap. A word to the wise: Stick to the recipes, don't try to be a Chopped Chef wanna-be, and you'll be fine! xoxo
And here we have the perfect exemplar of what NOT to do: completely burn dinner and destroy your 7 month old stainless steel pot!
I took something simple, cooking Brown Basmati Rice in organic vegetable broth, and turned it into a steamy situation - and not in a good way. 10 minutes into stove-time is all it took before I was suddenly one charred grain away from having the local fire dept. knock on our door.
And that doesn't even include the tofu; I am not sure I am ready to talk about it. But there was one good thing that came out of this chaos: Curry Tofu!
This is delicious! I used olive oil, few good shakes of curry powder, little cumin, red pepper, heaping tsp. of raw organic honey, a little sea salt and pepper, and a dash of red wine vinegar. Saute extra firm tofu in this mixture, using a very small amount (1/4-1/2 tsp.) of xantham gum to thicken sauce, if needed.
I still don't know why my rice burned and I am still kind of upset about it. I used 1 cup of broth to 1/2 cup brown basmati rice - B says the burner was on too high...I don't know. I will have to try that again.
Needless to say, B took over cooking the next two days after this Basmati blunder so I could get over the trauma.
It's official. I have a girl crush on Pioneer Woman.
Her and her Marlboro Man and her perfect Pear Crisp. Bar-none, the woman has talent, and a sense of humor that I can respect.
How, exactly, did I stumble upon this fanciful farm girl?
I googled apple crisp. Then I got up from the kitchen table and checked our fridge, which revealed 1 measly apple.
So then I googled pear crisp, because pears we had! Alas, I clicked on this yummy country-delish recipe. But of course, I had to try to make my own gluten-free version, using the most natural ingredients I could.
Literally, with my Macbook sitting prominently on the counter, step by step, I began following, chopping, and editing my own version of pear crisp.
Everyone wants to satisfy their sweet tooth without the guilt. Well, guess what....you can have your pie and eat it too without a guilty conscience with this creamy chocolate silk pie! The pie filling is raw + vegan, and the crust is vegan and gluten free!
I picked up a pre-made vegan/gluten free pie crust in the freezer section of Mother's Market. It wasn't too expensive either, I think it was $3.99 or something. Yes, you could go on and make your own pie crust from scratch, but let's be honest people, we have jobs, we have pressing deadlines and jam-packed schedules. Give yourself a break and buy the dang crust, no one will know! The edges brown perfectly, and it it light and flaky and has no egregious ingredients!
When one is weak, the other is strong. The great thing about marriage is there are two of you, and two is better than one. Especially when it comes to cooking dinner. The nights are frequent, lately, where I do not feel like cooking at all. I am tired of thinng of what to make. i want to try new things, instead of sticking with the same old recipes, but I also don't really have the time or the patience for it.
Bryan's tried and true favorite recipe to make on nights like the above are Vegan guacamole tacos, paired with spicy tomato bisque soup! The above tacos, Bryan added something a bit new - instead of mushrooms, he put in chopped cucumbers which were mixes with a little olive oil, sea salt and ground pepper. It really added something to the tacos!
Imagine has a great organic tomato soup, add some cupboard spices and fresh cilantro (or even fresh slices of avocado) and you are good to go!
I always wanted to try Spaghetti Squash - ever since experiencing the tasty entree from Gastro-pub in the Orange Circle, Downtown Orange. I have tried rice pasta, quinoa pasta, but now, I feel I'm ready to step up into the big leagues, Sqaush Style.
Allow me to explain, for those of you out there who have yet to venture out to non-grain based noodles, how to cook spaghetti squash. *Note: I prepared quinoa pasta/baked ziti as a back-up just in case my squash experiment went sour, and in order to feed my hungry bear husband.
How to cook Spaghetti Squash:
Poke fork holes in the big yellow vegetable, microwave it for 12 minutes. Alternatively, how else will you know it is done?
In my case, I pushed "START" on the microwave and continued to do housework in the other bedroom. Then, I hear the most painfully horrifying scream echoing from the kitchen. It sounds, literally, like a dying cat is excruciatingly taking his last pitiful breathes on our kitchen mat. I run to the kitchen, partially expecting to be met with a yellow squash explosion. In route (ok it's a few steps, our house is small) I can't help imagining what the scene must have been like in this cat/microwave crime (warning: feline lovers, so not read)
I slid to the microwave, pull open the door and steam is shooting out the fork holes like a train. I remove the squash, set it on the counter, and begin to cut it open with the anxiousness of an ER surgeon. Burn! Ouch! My fingers are on fire! Steam is HOTTTT.
I let it sit there, recovering from the high frequency torture both myself an the squash just endured.
Then, once it cooled off, I scraped the spaghetti out with a fork, and it fell out like butter! Super easy! And even more to my surprise, Bryan LOVED it! A squash that size makes a LOT of noodles, so we put it in the fridge for leftovers, and had it for snack, and later in the week for dinner with a little olive oil, garlic, and sauteed veggies.
Overall, it was a great meal- and doe not have the negative effects heavy pasta has on your system. You just have to be prepared for the screaming! Which reminds me, why is it that every-time I make tea on the stove, I literally JUMP in pure surprise when the kettle screams? I know it's coming, I just can't really prepare for it!
Do you ever have those days, or days that turn into the nights, where you just canNOT seem to do anything right? Or is it just me? Ok, well, allow me to explain why the past two nights, my sweet husband has taken it upon himself to be the chef for our eveing meals.
Let me lay out the procedural history first, as any lawyer would when briefing the Court or Client:
It all started Monday morning; I had a doctor appointment in the AM which didn't go that well - and what I mean but that is, it is never a good sign when your mother actually gets up and leaves the room mid-visit, and then, the doctor actually leaves the room promising to return, but then never does. True story.
Then I drove 50+ miles to work, 40+ miles to Trader Joe's after work to pick up items that are way too expensive to get at Mother's (side note: don't you just love how you have to go to at least THREE grocery stores to get all the damn food for two people to eat healthy for a week?)
After TJ's I sped home, exhausted. I lugges the bags up the stairs, unpacked all the groceries and put them in the fridge, and then began cooking right away. When I had last left B, it was after the doctor appointment where he said he would be home for dinner around 8:30pm. So I had about an hour. I was excited to get going on a tasty meal that he could come home to. I decided on flavorful quinoa and a raw veggie mix. I also thought I'd heat up the breast of chicken leftover in the ziplock baggie in the fridge from, oh I don't know, about a week ago for B.
I boiled 2 cups organic chicken broth on the stove, poured a cup of quinoa in it, along with some chopped onions, minced garlic cloves, and let it cook. To my utter glee, when I lifted the pan lid, I saw beautiful fluffy quinoa flakes, light and steamy. I was so excited because this was the first time I had ever successfully cooked quinoa (despite numerous previous attempts which shall remain a mystery). I ground some Himalayan salt into the pan and fluffed.
As for the raw veggie mix, I chopped cucombers, mushrooms, and added 1 tbsp. olive oil, 1 tbsp. fresh salsa, ground pepper, and a squeeze of lemon.
The chicken, I must admit, was a bit of an afterthought, hence the plastic looking overlay of over-broiled and then cooled cheese shown in Exhibit A to the right.
See, 8:30 came and went, and before I knew it, I had eaten the quinoa and veggies, nearly fallen asleep 3 times on the couch, and around 9:45 B walked in. I told him his dinner was warming in the oven - and had been for an hour. He said it smelled good. I was grateful for that compliment. THen he sat down, ate one, maybe two bites, and started packing up his plate in a leftover container.
I put my hand on my hip and said, "Um - exauuuuuuse me? What are you doing? You don't like it?"
Response: Is this the chicken from a week ago?
"Yea."
Is it still good?
"I don't knowww! Why arent you eating the dinner I slaved over for you?! I am so tired! Why do I even bother trying to cook if you aren't even going to eat it!
I'm not hungry! I had a few beers. I love it though babe and I'll have it for lunch tomorrow (sans chicken which was now face down in the trash)
"I'm glad you had a nice barley and hops nutritional and well -balanced meal!" I proceeded to slump off to the bathroom for a bath to calm my fuming nerves.
It only took 2 days later for me to get the truth. The next day, when I got home from work I discovered the container of quinoa still in the fridge. I looked at B and asked him point blank - what did you have for lunch today, and then darted between him, container, him, container, until he finally confessed "Ok I didn't like it!"
And therein lies the story for why B has been cooking the past two nights. And can I just say, what a fantastic cook that little gipper is? I will post his fantastic RAW and gluten free Vegan meals tomorrow.
And on another note, I have been recently hearing and reading a lot about the benefits of Himalayan salt. Also, the girl at the supplement counter at Mother's Market tonight was going on and on about how important the acidity and alkalinity in our bodies is and how it can affect inflammation . I stood there trying to determine what cold water fish variety I wanted (Cod Liver, Krill, Salmon, etc) and half listened to her probing me for answers about whether I had ever tested my pH.
However, in my ever persistent and cyclical jounrey to achieve balance and wellness in an anti-inlammatory body, I listened to her advice and pointers regarding supplements and vowed to go home and research. Turns out, my pink Himalayan salt I just started using can have an affect on acidity and alkalinity! AH - my mind hurts at all this supplemental crap!
Watch this video if you want to learn more about acid/alkaline balance in the body, and this guy has plenty more on YouTube if you fancy him.
I couldn't resist making the decadently rich Cacao RAW + VEGAN Pudding again, this time, using actual Raw Cacao Powder instead of Unsweetened Natural Cocoa powder. Trader Joe's only has Cocoa powder, Mother's sells Raw Cacao powder....but get ready to unleash your wallet for a few ounces of the good stuff - this "superfood" as they call it, in the same family as Goji berries, is not cheap! But man is it tasty and rich, and fantastic in this pudding!
This time, I added a 1/2 tsp. of Organic Bourbon Vanilla Extract (maybe not Raw?) and no water. The avocados I used (organic) were very ripe and the texture just whipped up perfectly!
I added a bit of natural "cool whip" substitute and sliced banana, topped with sprinkled cinnamon! B loved it! This is definitely a favorite around here....I'm gonna get burned out on it though soon if I keep downing it like I have been. It's maybe time for me to try a new Raw, Vegan Delicious Dessert Recipe!
I am a woman of her word. I posted yesterday about how excited I was that Mother's Market & Kitchen is opening near our neighborhood. Mother's has this amazing Raw Chocolate Pudding from their deli that I was blessed to experience because my sweet friend "K" brought it over the other night along with other raw veggies and food:
The bottom line: this pudding is the richest, creamiest chocolate pudding you've ever tasted! And you would never guess the ingredients!
Ingredients:
4 avocados
1 1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa or cacao powder
1 c. Raw Organic Agave Nectar
Pinch sea salt
Water (not that much, about a tbsp or 2 - depending on what consistency you desire)
Most recipes say online to blend together ingredients in a blender. About halfway through that catastrophe, I beg to differ. B looked at me, covered in cocoa powder and said, why don't you just use the beaters? That's why I married this man!
So I transferred all the half blended ingredients from the blender to a bowl, and used the beaters on high speed until everthing was perfectly blended. Then I folded in some Carob chips to add texture.
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I am so excited to have a new Mother's Market opening in 5 days near me! YAY!
On that note, Mother's has the BEST RAW Chocolate Pudding from their deli.
The ingredients include:
Avocados, RAW cacao powder, RAW agave nectar, sea salt, and water. I e-mailed their customer service for the exact recipe and once I receive it (fingers crossed) I will make it and post pictures!
Can't wait!!
Every year for my husband's birthday, he requests the infamous BAKED ZITI that my MIL makes that is incredible!
This year, due to my dietary restrictions, my sweet and accommodating MIL invited myself and my brother in law's girlfriend (Celiac- also gluten free) to make our own modified version of her famous ziti - gluten free style!
We boiled gluten free noodles half way (5 minutes or so) Note: I usually prefer to use quinoa pasta - but the rice pasta tastes slightly better and is less hard.
Drain the noodles, and stir in a cup of Ricotta cheese. Then pour in the secret marinara sauce, stir, top with cheese and bake for 15 minutes!
Secret Sauce (Meat Lover Version)
Now, the marinara sauce - for meat eaters, you get Italian sausage from an Italian Market, and what my MIL does is saute crushed tomatoes in olive oil for a few minutes. Then she adds a can of tomato sauce, and Italian herbs and spices (oregano, garlic, basil).
In a separate pan, bring a bit of water to boil, then sets the sausages in the water until the pink is gone. Then browns the sausages, and pay attention here, this is the secret tip for not too greasy meat sauce, drain and rinse the sausages before adding them to the marinara sauce! This rids the sausage of the excess fat and grease that accumulates from cooking the sausage.
The marinara sauce marinates with the meat and then she removes the sausages and places them in their own casserole dish.
The sauce she uses to mix in with the noodles and ricotta, which is then baked in the oven for 15 minutes.
Now, for a vegan alternative, use soy flavored mozzarella cheese, and obviously, do not cook the meet in the sauce. Also, for fellow gluten free folk, you do not want to cook the sausage in the meat either because there can be additives and fillers in some sausages, depending on where you get them, but you want to check the ingredients on those before assuming they are gluten free!
